William j



W. J. KELLY.

REFRIGERANT MEASURING AND DISPENSING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 9.1914.

1 1 93,55 5 Patented Aug. 8, 1916.

WILLIAM J'. KELLY, OI CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIG-NOR TO "AUTOVACUUM REFRIGER- ATING- COMPANY, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, A CORPORATION OF LOUISIANA.

REFRIGERANT MEASURING AND DISPENSING DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern: 7 I

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. KELLY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, Cook county, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerant Measuring and Dispensing Devices, of which the following isa specification. i

My invention relates to ammonia absorption refrigerating systems, and has special reference to improvements upon the apparatus or system which is shown and described in my pending application Serial No. 822,632, filed March 5th, 1914.

My invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, and in which the parts A, D, F 1, B, and B correspond to and respectively represent the parts marked G H, J J and J in the drawing of said pending application.

A, is the reservoir which is substantially filled with liquid ammonia, A through the condenser connection E, at each distillation of strong liquor in the container (not shown) of the apparatus.

B is the refrigerating coil.

F is the expansion valve at the receivin end of the coil B.

B is the return pipe of the refrigerating coil, the same being connected with said container (not shown).

D is the controlling or king-valve at the I outlet of the reservoir A.

C is the liquid ammonia pipe extending from the valve D to the expansion valve F.

H is a brine tank sometimes used in conjunction with the coil B.

It will be understood that the coil B (and the tank H, if used) occupy the refrigerating box or chamber (not shown) which is to be cooled.

In the ordinary operation of such apparatus, the liquor (aqua ammonia) in the container (not shown) is distilled periodically, and at each distillation the reservoir A, as stated, is substantially filled with liquid ammonia. Distillation then ceases and the container thereafter receives the return flow (expanded ammonia) from the refrigerating coil, until the quantity of ammonia which was distilled ofi has returned to and has been absorbed by the weak liquor in the container. It is customary to use the king-valve D only when desired to com- Specification of Letters Patent.

, Patented Aug.- 8, 1916.

Application filed June 9, 1914. Serial No. 848,970.

pletely shut off the flow of liquid ammonia to the expansion valve F, and it is customary to open, close and adjust the expansion valve F by hand, as required properly to regulate the temperature inthe refriger- 'ating box. In exceptional cases, where the I doors of the refrigerating box are frequently opened during all hours of the dayv and night, the expansion valve may be left open to constantly refrigerate thebox, but 'in most cases such use of the box is limited to a few hours or a few times per day, and when the box is shut for a definite time, the expansion valve may be closed soon after the box is closed, the low temperature produc ed by the brief continuance of refrigeration being sufficient to preserve the contents of the box until it is again opened. Thus, at nightfall, when the refrigerating box is not to be opened until morning, a very brief continuation of refrigeration in the coil will suffice to keep the box cool until morning. Obviously, the refrigerant (liquid ammonia) may be saved, and distillations in the main container made less frequent, if the expansion valve is opened and closed according to the actual demand for refrigeration, but most users of such apparatus either neglect to do so or find it inconvenient to close the expansion valve within a definite time after closing the refrigerating box or chamber, and in consequence the expansion valve is left open, with the result that an unnecessarily large quantity of liquid ammonia is consumed.

The object of my invention is to overcome I these difficulties, and to this end I provide means whereby an attendant when closing the refrigerating box for the night or 0th 1' 1.

a small quantity of liquid ammonia, suflicient to continue refrigeration in the coil until the temperature of the box is so far reduced that it may be allowed to stand for several hours without further refrigeration, and having thus withdrawn such limited or measured supply may then shut the kingvalve D, and depart without shutting off or paying further attention to the expansion valve F. Thus, as in the preferred form shown in the drawing, I employ a small auxiliary reservoir G, the capacity of which is but a small part of that of the reservoir A. I connect the lower end of the small reservior G with the pipe C, above the king-valve D, laymeans of a short pipe and I eon- Y device I accomplish all'the purposes of my invention.

It will be noted that the pipes g andg are merely joined to the pipe C and that none of these parts stops or interferes with the flow of liquid ammonia through the pipe C when the valve 1) is open. Therefore, the ordinary operation of the apparatus is not interfered with. But when it is desired to stop refrigeration at a definite time as in any of the instances above outlined, the attendant momentarily opens the valve 9 placing both ends of the reservoir G in communication with the pipe C, and thus allowing the reservoir G to fill with liquid ammonia from the reservoir. Then the attendant closes the valve g and also closes the king-valve D.

From that moment, the flow of refrigerantshown may be modified to suit various positions of the parts and different arrangements of the piping, but in any such modification the open end of the auxiliary reservoir,.

whatever its kind or position, must be placed below its relatively closed end to insure the trapping of the ammonia gas above the -surface of the confined liquid and to insure the feeding of the liquid to the expansion valve.

Otherwise the liquid instead of moving to i the expansion valve would expand into gas before reaching it; as will be clear from a. study of the pipe C after the valve D is closed and disregarding the auxiliary G. In other words, to insure proper operation, gas must be trapped over. the liquid between the king-valve and the expansion. valve after the king-valve is closed.

In most cases, after brief observation, it is possible to adjust the fine expansion valve F to exactly serve the needs of the refrigerating box, and one of the advantages of my invention is that intermittent use of the refrigerant may be accomplished without altering the condition of the expansion valve.

I have herein said that my invention is particularly applicable to the apparatus disclosed in my aforesaid pending application, but I desire it to be understood that this present invention may also be used with other forms or types of refrigerating apparatus in which a quantity of refrigerant is made or prepared and then taken back or absorbed as it emerges from the refrigerating coil. Y

Having thus described my invention I 1 

